Nitesh-Thulasimathi beat country-mates in Paralympics

PARIS: India’s Nitesh Kumar and Thulasimathi Murugesan had little difficulty overcoming country-mates Suhas Yathiraj and Palak Kohli in the opening group stage match of badminton mixed doubles (SL3-SU5) at the Paralympic Games here on Thursday.

However, the mixed doubles duo of Sivarajan Solaimalai and Nithya Sre, seeded second, lost their SH6 group play stage match in straight games to the American pair of Miles Krajewski and Jayci Simon.

The Nitesh-Thulasimathi duo won the Group A contest 21-14, 21-17 in 31 minutes.

Nitesh, 29, who hails from Karnal district in Haryana, and young Thulasimathi, a veterinary science student from Tamil Nadu who had won the mixed bronze at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, encountered little challenge in the first game and at one stage they were leading by seven points.

Unable to counter the pair’s net play and deep tosses, Suhas and Palak quickly found themselves trailing, losing the game in just 14 minutes.